Zürcher Nachrichten - US negotiators to set out Ukraine truce plan to Russia

Russia has been grinding forward on the battlefield for over a year, claiming on Thursday to have driven Ukraine from the town of Sudzha in its Kursk region.

Earlier this week, Kyiv agreed to a US ceasefire proposal to halt fighting, but Moscow has asked Washington to present details before indicating whether it is acceptable.

Russian news agencies reported Thursday that a plane linked to US President Donald Trump's envoy Steve Witkoff had landed at Vnukovo-2, a Moscow airport terminal often used to accept foreign dignitaries.

"Negotiators are flying in and indeed contacts are scheduled," Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said, without saying who was part of the US team.

Russian presidential aide Yuri Ushakov spoke to US National Security Advisor Mike Waltz by phone the day before, Peskov added.

Ushakov on Thursday criticised the US-Ukrainian ceasefire proposal, saying it would just be a "breather" for the Ukrainian military.

"It would be nothing more than a temporary breather for the Ukrainian military," Ushakov told state media following his call with Waltz.

- Peacekeepers 'unacceptable' -

US President Donald Trump has expressed optimism that US negotiators can secure a ceasefire, even as Kyiv and Moscow trade almost daily aerial attacks.

"People are going to Russia right now as we speak. And hopefully we can get a ceasefire from Russia," Trump told reporters on Wednesday during an Oval Office meeting with Ireland's prime minister Micheal Martin.

Setting out its red lines, Russia on Thursday ruled out foreign peacekeepers being deployed to Ukraine as part of a ceasefire or long-term security guarantee.

"It is absolutely unacceptable to us that army units of other states are stationed in Ukraine under any flag," foreign ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said in a briefing.

"Be it a foreign contingent and a military base... all this would mean the involvement of these countries in a direct armed conflict with our country," she added.

Russia also wants sanctions to be lifted as part of any deal as it grapples with distortions in its economy.

Peskov said Moscow considered the sanctions "illegal", but would not go into detail about possible talks on the matter ahead of the negotiations.

"Let us not get ahead of ourselves," he said.

- Sudzha 'liberated' -

As US officials travelled to Moscow, Russia claimed rapid advances in the Kursk region -- where Kyiv launched a cross-border assault last August.

The Russian defence ministry said in a statement on Thursday it had "liberated" Sudzha along with two other settlements in the border region.

Sudzha, home to around 5,000 people before the fighting, was the largest settlement Kyiv seized after it launched its cross-border assault into Russia last year.

The Kursk region was one of Kyiv's few bargaining chips in swapping land with Russia, which has occupied around a fifth of Ukraine since it took Crimea in 2014 and launched its full-scale assault in February 2022.

Ukraine now risks losing its grip on the border region entirely, ceding dozens of square kilometres in the past seven days, according to military bloggers.

Ukraine did not immediately comment on Russia's claim.

Moscow's rapid advances in the region came after the US paused intelligence sharing and security support for Ukraine, analysts and officials have cautioned against making a direct link.

Washington resumed its support for Kyiv ahead of the talks with Moscow.

Both Moscow and Kyiv kept up hostilities into Thursday.

Russia downed 77 Ukrainian drones overnight, its defence ministry said Thursday, while Ukraine's air force said it downed dozens of drones fired at multiple regions.

F.E.Ackermann--NZN